As you might know, I’ve been renovating my kitchen since the day after Thanksgiving 2025, when I began tearing out the old cabinets and vinyl flooring. And just in time for Thanksgiving 2026, my kitchen is once again functional, with upper and lower cabinets done and installed (well, they still need doors and drawer fronts, but they’re functional), a soapstone countertop, and a working range, dishwasher and sink.

Now I’m on to the not-as-critical items, including this shallow shelving unit that lips over the backsplash and rests on the counter. There are cleats glued under the top and the fixed shelf, through which I’ve screwed the unit to studs.

Overall, the carcase is 25-1/4″ wide x 8″ deep x 80″ high, and the exterior pieces and fixed shelf are just under 3/4″ thick. I was aiming for 3/4″, but I had a bit more twist in one board than I’d realized, so I finished up a little shy of that goal – but no matter. The seven movable shelves and drawer dividers are 5/8″ because ~3/4″ looked a little too inelegant to my eye (and the Sagulator deemed them “acceptable”). And of course, it’s all cherry.

The back is rabbeted to accept a 1/4″ plywood back that I covered with William Morris and Kate Faulkner “Mallow” pre-pasted wallpaper (just add water and a squeegee) before screwing it in place – an idea I borrowed from a number of British kitchen design feeds (this one is a favorite).

The build is fairly straightforward. The corners are dovetailed, and there’s a fixed shelf in the center to keep it from racking, plus two drawers dividers, captured in 1/4″-deep dados … that I decided to add mid-build.

What made the build a little tricky is the size. I had to saw the tails on the 80″-long sides with the board flat on a low bench which, while not difficult per se, takes some getting used to given that it’s a rare need. And the transfer required a bit of extra room, plus it was a little fiddly to ensure that everything was lined up square.

After cutting the backsplash notch (pictured above) and semi-dry-fitting the dovetails, I laid out and cut the 1/4″-deep dados with a crosscut saw, chisel and router plane. Then grabbed a bottle of fish glue for assembly. (I needed the long open time to get from one end to the other of this behemoth!)

Once the glue was dry and everything was out of clamps, I used a shelf-hole jig to drill the support holes for the movable shelves. Then I had to go back to our favorite local(ish) lumberyard, because all the cherry I have left in my stash is 11″ or wider, and I certainly wasn’t about to cut that down for 7-7/8″-wide shelves!

The drawers are per usual: half-blind dovetails on the 5/8″-thick cherry front, and through-dovetails at the back. The secondary wood is 1/2″-thick poplar, the bottoms are 1/4″ plywood captured in grooves in the fronts and sides, and kept from sliding out the back with a nail in a slot. The bottom drawer is shallower front to back by 1-1/2″ because of the backsplash, but both are large enough to hold boxes of tea. The 7/8″ tenoned Shaker pulls are from Nice Knobs.

The finish is soft wax. And on the bottom, I applied some black adhesive-backed felt so as not to scratch my countertop as I slid it in place.

Now it’s on to designing and building a long, narrow island – more of an ait, really (in sticking with the British theme).

– Fitz

p.s. At the risk of self-aggrandizement/looking like a prat…if you’d like thorough instruction on through-dovetails and dados, you’ll find it in “Dutch Tool Chests.”

p.p.s. You might be wondering how I can possibly access the stuff at the top. After I’m done with the island, and the cabinet doors and drawer fronts, I’m installing a ladder rail on that wide panel between the upper and lower upper cabinets, then building a ladder that will hook over it. Stole Borrowed that from a British site, too…and ordered the hardware from the U.K. where it’s a lot easier to find.

Welcome to Open Wire, our bi-monthly Woodworking Q&A session.

Until 5 p.m. today, you can post your questions in the comment section below, then Chris and I, along with your fellow readers if they wish, will answer.

I’m writing this post about a week ahead of time, but it’s fairly safe to assume that as you read this, Chris is working on a chair in between his answers, and I’m unpacking from one teaching trip and getting ready for the next one (as is Chris – we’ll both be at the London International Woodworking Festival in two weeks).

Our final Open Wire of the year is on December 12.

– Fitz

This week we have two pieces we are selling to readers: a Welsh-style stick chair I made last month, plus a gorgeous walnut shelving unit that journeyer Kale Vogt made for a pottery show. These items are being sold separately via a random drawing. Complete information on buying the items is below.

First, a little about the objects.

Elm & Ash Stick Chair by Christopher Schwarz

I recently completed this chair while teaching a class in Wisconsin. It is the seven-stick comb-back I’ve been refining for about five years now. This one is set up for all-purpose seating, either for dining, keyboarding or sitting by the fire.

Like many old Welsh chairs, this one has an elm seat, arm and comb. The legs, sticks and stretchers are made from some nice olive ash. All the joints are assembled with animal glue (for repairs in the far-off future) and ash wedges (to keep the joints tight). The chair is finished with a coat of the soft wax we make here. It is non-toxic and easy to repair should it ever become scuffed.

Design-wise, this chair has a lot of Welsh features, including the negative space between the short sticks and the long, the hand-cut lamb’s tongue detail on the ends of the shoe and the gently rounded comb. I have left the short sticks a little proud (1mm) and burnished them with bone, which gives the arms some nice texture.

The seat is lightly saddled (about 3/8″ deep) and is 16-3/4″ from the floor – a good all-purpose height for vernacular chairs. It sits well, with just a little bit of lumbar support and nice thoracic support.

The chair is $1,900, and that price includes crating it and shipping it to anywhere in the lower 48.

Walnut Shelf Unit by Kale Vogt

If you follow the ‘Anarchist’s Apprentice’ Substack then you’re well aware of this shelf. On Substack I wrote about the design and build process of this shelf, and now here on the Lost Art Press blog, I’m putting it up for grabs.

This wall shelf was initially built for my friend who is a ceramicist. Months ago, said friend reached out to see if I’d be interested in building an original piece for his upcoming ceramic show that could display his handmade mugs. I jumped at the opportunity.

The ceramic show has since come and gone (it was a big success!), and now here my shelf sits, alone, ready for its new home. If this sort of thing speaks to you, read on for specs and details about the shelf.

For starters, the shelf is made entirely from a walnut tree that fell on my family’s land in Eastern Kentucky. It’s adhered together using traditional through-tenon and key joinery. No glue or fasteners are used on the piece (Except for the screws used to attach the French cleat to the back.)

The inner shelves are egg-carton jointed and rest snugly inside the outer frame. And the rabbeted back panel is held in place by grooves on the upper and lower frame shelves. Each cubby hole measures 5-1/2″ W x 4-3/8″ D x 5-1/2″ H. The shelf as a whole measures 19-3/4″ x 8-1/2″ (at the widest portion of the side panel) x 32-1/2″. And as mentioned before, it comes ready to hang with a cleat attached to the back. The piece is finished with a coat of soft wax.

If I had an appropriate spot for this shelf in my kitchen, I’d be keeping it for myself. It’s sturdy, bold and walnut. Did I note earlier that it’s made from walnut?

I’m asking $675 for the shelf, that price includes crating and shipping to anywhere in the lower 48. 

How to Purchase One of These Pieces

We are selling these pieces via a random drawing. If you want to purchase one of them, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, Oct. 15. If you want to buy the stick chair, please use the subject line “stick chair.” And if you want to buy the shelving unit, use the subject line “shelving unit.” In your email, please include:

• Your first and last name
• Your mailing address
• Your daytime phone number (this is for the shipping quote only. No one will call).

If your name is selected, we’ll send you an email and arrange delivery. As mentioned above the price includes all packing and shipping charges.

It’s been years since my last needlepoint project (a belt for a boyfriend … who was an ex-boyfriend before the belt was done), and I wasn’t very good then. I’m worse now – but just competent enough to sew a patch onto a hat. In the video below, I tacked the corners down…but I recommend, after sewing on a second patch at home, that you instead use four pins to keep the patch in place as you stitch the edges. That means just a little less sewing.

Oh – and I also recommend having pliers at the ready – especially if you have even a touch of the ol’ arthritis. The patch material is stiff and thick, and the hat is thick at the seams thanks to the cotton reinforcement tape. The pliers make it a lot easier to pull the needle through.

Here we go!!! The Workshop Covington website is live!  Check out WorkshopCovington.com and see the assortment of classes we have lined up for the first half of 2027.

We are excited to offer both a range of class types and experience levels. There will be chair making and tool chests, marquetry and design classes, even a chance to play with fresh milk paint. Take a look around the site and see the details for each class.

Mark your calendars, class registration opens on Wednesday, October 7th at noon (Eastern time).  Registration will be done by email, all the details of how it works are on the website.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the bench room at Workshop Covington, right in the heart of Covington, Kentucky. A stone’s throw from many places to eat, stay, and just generally have an all around fantastic time woodworking and exploring the historic city of Covington.

The following is excerpted from Chapter 11 of “Shaker Inspiration,” in which author Christian Becksvoort presents six of the many Shaker reproductions he’s made in his long career. Other design chapters include measured drawings for his own designs and a baker’s dozen of Shaker classics. Plus he shares his construction methods, thoughts on design and craftsmanship, shop and business advice, and more.

Tailor Counter. 33″ H x 60″ W x2 7-7/8″ D (83.3cm x 152cm x 70.7cm).
This piece is a great example of asymmetrical design. The original is from Hancock, Mass., or Enfield, Conn. The top has breadboard ends, while the case has two horizontal panels on the sides and three vertical panels in the back, with a dust panel on the bottom. The drawers are lipped on three sides. An almost identical one, about 4″ (10cm) longer, features a cherry case and tiger
maple drawer fronts, made by the same Shaker craftsman.
Dennis Griggs Photo.

Just a heads up that you have only until this Friday – Sept. 25, 2026 – to get Christopher Schwarz’s revised “Build a Stick Chair Video” for the introductory price of $37.50 (50-percent off). The price then goes up to $79.

In this video, Chris teaches you to build using common woodworking tools and machines, plus kiln-dried wood from the lumberyard. This video, which clocks in at more than four hours long, has 18 separate chapters that cover all aspects of stick chair construction, from selecting the lumber to applying the finish.

Purchasers will also receive a digital file with full-size patterns for the chair shown in the video, which can be printed out at any reprographics firm or office supply store. Plus, notes on the sizes of the chair parts and sources for tools used in the video. (This chair is a new design, not one found in “The Stick Chair Book.”)

This, and all of our videos, can be watched one of two ways. You can stream it (after logging into your account here at Lost Art Press). Or you can download the video and put it on any device. The video is offered without DRM (digital rights management), so the files will be easily moved to any of your devices, now and in the future.

Get “Build a Stick Chair” now, before the price goes up!

The following is excerpted from Peter Follansbee’s latest book, “17th-century Essex County Cupboard.”

Making the side-hung drawers is a fun challenge. I don’t do it often enough to have a systematic step-by-step approach; I’ve done it this way and that over the years. First off, the stock I use for the drawers is all radially riven and planed well ahead of time so it’s nice and dry. The drawer sides in particular need to be good, clear stock.

After assembling the case, I take some final passes with a sharp plane to size the drawer fronts to their openings. Three of the drawers have applied mouldings and turnings decorating the fronts. This work can be done once the drawers are assembled. The second drawer has a carved front, and I do that work before assembly. I’ll address the carving separately.

Let’s look at the drawer construction. It might confound some modern sensibilities. Three of the drawers use half-blind dovetails to join the drawer sides to the fronts.

The backs of the drawers are not dovetailed; they’ve got rabbet joints and nails to attach to the ends of the drawer sides – except for the deepest drawer, which has through-dovetails front and back. You could give yourself a headache trying to understand why this particular mix of techniques appears on this cupboard. I don’t even bother. Some of the related cupboards used dovetails in the drawer fronts; most just used nailed rabbets. Which gives you plenty of leeway.

The deep drawer (7-1/4″) has two tails on the drawer sides; the others have only one. The only difference between them, as I noted, is that the large drawer has through-dovetails and the shallower drawers have half-blind joints. I plow the groove in the drawer sides before laying out the dovetails. Then, when I lay out the tails, I arrange them so the groove runs through one. The groove placement needs to agree with the notches in the stiles for the drawer runners. As discussed in the section on framing the lower case, you can make the notches in the frame first or the groove in the drawer sides first. Doesn’t matter. But make them agree – that’s critical. So much has been written about dovetails that I don’t want to add my two cents’ worth. The photos and captions cover what I know.

Assembling the drawer is simple enough. The rabbets are just nailed; out of habit I glued the dovetails in addition to nailing them. I’ve seen some period dovetailed drawers without nails; thus glue is implied. Make sure the nail heads don’t protrude from the drawer side as this could interfere with the drawer’s fit. I often hollow an area with a gouge to sink the nail head in. Nail the joint through the drawer back into the ends of the drawer sides, again with reamed pilot holes. After assembling the drawer, make two saw cuts to open up the groove through the drawer’s ends. Then knock out the waste with a chisel and mallet. It doesn’t have to be your neatest work; it just has to allow the drawer to slide along the runner.

Drawer Bottoms
Seventeenth-century drawer bottoms appear in several configurations. Hardwood, softwood, riven, sawn – I’ve seen them all. Some run lengthwise, some front to back. I like to make drawer bottoms from white pine boards running front to back. This can be a good use for short bits of wood. In this particular case, though, they are all riven oak, a bit less than 1/2″ thick. The log I had on hand yielded boards 6″ to 9″ wide, so there are about five or six boards per drawer. They butt up against each other with the same V-shaped joint used in the cupboard’s floorboards and soffit.

My drawer bottoms are finished on one face and rough-planed to thickness. I start each drawer by installing the outer boards at each end. These need one edge and the front end square. The inner edge doesn’t need to be parallel to the outer edge. Then flip the drawer upside down on the bench, lay the bottom in place in the rabbet and flush with the drawer side. Then, scribe the bit hanging over past the drawer’s back to get its finished length. Trim that length and joint the second edge. The same steps for making the V-groove in the soffit and floorboards apply here. Nail the drawer bottoms up to the drawer sides and back, and into a rabbet in the drawer front. The drawers use up a lot of nails, depending on how many boards make up the bottoms.

We are offering free shipping on Michael Pekovich’s new book “Benchwork” for the next 30 days. You can order the book here, and we will ship it tomorrow.

“Benchwork” is Mike’s third book, and this one focuses on making your work at the bench the best it can be. He shows you how to make his simple workbench, plus tool chests, wall cabinets and important shop appliances (do check out the “risers”….).

And Mike discusses in detail his kit of hand tools and how each one has earned a place in his shop.

Like all of our books, “Benchwork” is made to high standards. The heavy coated paper takes color beautifully. All the pages are sewn together, then backed with glue and fiber tape. Then we wrap the book block with heavy boards, cloth and a dust jacket. This is a permanent book – made in the USA.

Note: Lost Art Press ships only to US addresses. If you live outside the U.S., consider buying the book from one of our retailers. Or use a mail forwarding service. We hope that all of our retailers will carry “Benchwork,” but that is up to them (as it should be). 

— Christopher Schwarz

The Lost Art Press storefront will be closed this Friday (Sept. 4) because we’ll be in Iowa at Handworks, and the following Monday (Sept. 7) so we can

a) recover from Handworks (here’s hoping Chris and I don’t once again bring home a bad case of Covid…or a not-bad case of Covid, for that matter) and

b) because it’s the Labor Day holiday

But the doors are open from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. today, tomorrow and Wednesday (Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2)

– Fitz